Syrian officials brief UN representative on terrorists’ crimes against children

DAMASCUS,(ST)_ UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, on Sunday held talks with Syrian officials on situation of displaced people in Syria, services being offered to them, and means of keeping children away from negative effect of the crisis.

According to SANA, Zerrougui praised the measures adopted by Education Ministry to ensure a regular run for educational process since the first day of the school year.

In a meeting with Education Minister, Zerrougui asserted the need for exerting more efforts to protect children and keep them away from the negative consequences of any crisis as they are the most affected group, noting that children are the only guarantee of societies’ future.

For his part, the Minister talked about the damages caused by the armed terrorist groups to the educational sector in Syria, noting that 2362 schools in several provinces were damaged, plundered, and looted.

“In education sector, 112workers have been killed and other eight were kidnapped and mutilated by the terrorist groups,” said Hazwan al-Wez.

He noted that 1956 schools have been opened as shelters for the displaced families affected by the armed terrorist acts, clarifying that the ministry has offered facilities as regards enrolling students with no official documents.

“School enrollment percentage ranged between 70 to 75%, while working hours of the teaching staffs reached 90%,” said al-Wez

As for rehabilitating schools, al-Wez said: “In cooperation with international organizations, the ministry has repaired 355 schools and rehabilitated 117 ones in Damascus and its Countryside, Homs, Daraa and Hasaka,” citing that other schools are still out of service due to the damage caused to their structures.

The minister also spoke of the crimes committed by the armed terrorist groups against schools, referring particularly to “al-Bteiha” School in al-“Waafideen Camp” and the booby-trapped car blast near “Mikhail Samaan” School in Qatana in Damascus Countryside.

“The Ministry is coordination with some international organizations to hold workshops on teaching, learning methods and means of providing social and psychological support,” said al-Wez.

The minister submitted to Zerrougui a documentary film on terrorism against schools in Syria titled “ABC”.

Social Affairs

In another meeting,,Zerrougui  discussed with Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Dr. Jassim Mohammad Zakarya, and Zerrougui efforts being exerted by the Higher Commission for Relief to alleviate  the affected citizens’ suffering and deliver the humanitarian aid to all families.

Zakarya said that the displaced children temporary living in shelters were enrolled in schools near the shelters and provided with all requirements to continue their studies.

He added that the Higher Commission for Relief is offering support to all civil associations working in the relief field in order to carry out their duty in delivering aid to the affected families inside and outside the temporary shelters.

“The Ministry has recently formed a committee tooffer necessary care to children who lost their parents and women who have special problems, and to receive urgent cases through an operation room that is working around the clock,”said Zakarya.

He underscored that some international organizations have exploited the suffering of the Syrian families who were forced to flee the country due to the armed terrorist group’s acts.

For her part, Zerrougui stressed the importance of paying more attention to women, children and poor families in order to protect them and ease their suffering.

Documented crimes

Later, Minister of Justice,Najm al-Ahmad, met with Zerrougui and stressed to her that the government has documented the armed terrorist groups’ crimes against the Syrians and children in particular.

SANA quoted the minister as saying:” a number of documents reveal how the terrorist groups force children under 12 to take up arms and target citizens”

Talking about the case of the child Hamzeh al-Khatib,as an example, the mister clarified that the documented testimonies of his father and the coroner prove the groundlessfanfare roused by the media and the hostile parties which alleged that the Syrian Army was responsible for the killing of al-Khatib.

Al-Ahmad also talked about the case of Zainab al-Hassni,who the media claimed that she was kidnapped and killed by the army before these allegations were refuted.

“The government welcomes any effort that contributes to prevent the crimes perpetrated by the terrorist groups against the people in Syria, particularly children and women,” said the minister, noting that the government will provide the UN committee with copies of what it has been documented regarding the terrorist groups’ violations.

In this regard, Al-Ahmad noted the central independent judicial committee is investigating the crimes committed against the citizens to be referred to the judiciary which, in turn, is going tomake rulings to give the affected people their rights back.

The UN Representative asserted that her visit to Syria aims to inspect the reality of what is going on especially the situation of children, and to see how the UN could contribute to ease the suffering of citizens and children.

Zerrougui also focused on the necessityof adopting measures to guarantee the application of penalties against those committing crimes against children, noting that a committee has been formed in Syria to document those crimes by whatever side according to the UN rules and agreements.

Protecting civilians

Zerrougui’s last meeting on Sunday was with the Chairwoman of the Syrian Commission for the Family Affairs Ensaf Hamad.

The talks dealt with the UN official means of protecting children and keeping them away from the negative repercussions of crisis.

During the meeting, Hamad briefed the UN official on the acts of the armed terrorist groups against civilians, particularly children, targeting schools, medical centers and medicine factories, affirming that the Commission is cooperating with the Ministry of Education to join all children to schools and enrolling them without any documents.

For her part, Zerrougui called for monitoring violations against civilians, particularly children, and documenting the acts of sabotage which target schools and medical centers to attach them with the reports to be presented to the team working with the UN.

“It is the necessary to stop violence, protect the civilians and work for solving the crisis from inside,” said Zerrougui, hoping security and stability return to Syria.

Zerrougui arrived in Damascus on Friday on a four-day visit in response to an invitation by the Syrian government to assess the direct impact of the crisis in Syria on children.

BasmaQaddour